Blast From the Past: How are last year’s ASX IPOs holding up in 2021?

Just how are last year’s ASX IPOs holding up in 2021 and which stocks have done substantially better and worse than last year?

While 2021 is set to surpass 2020 for the number of companies IPOing (52 listings in nearly six months compared to 66 in the preceding 12), it’s easy to forget that much of the momentum begun in the back half of 2020.

And some companies which were quiet last year have broken out this year. In case you’ve forgotten, here’s how last year’s ASX IPOs performed up to December 31 2020…

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And here’s how they have held up this year…

The top performers of last year’s ASX IPOs

The average ASX IPO from last year is currently up 39 per cent.

This is slightly down on where they were at the end of last year but ahead of the average gain in 2021 which is just 16 per cent.

Last year’s top 5 ASX IPOs were COSOL (ASX:COS), 4DMedical (ASX:4DX), Siren Gold (ASX:SNG), Desert Metals (ASX:DM1) and Caspin Resources (ASX:CPN).

Just one of these is still there in Caspin Resources. Caspin has jumped into first place on a performance-since-listing basis, up 870 per cent, and third on a YTD basis, up 259 per cent.

Caspin is one of several companies looking for a Julimar-like nickel-copper-PGE discovery, although one curious difference is that it is actually backed by Chalice (ASX:CHN). It has rocketed after two intersections of sulphides in April and in May.

Taking gold and silver spots on a YTD basis are Coda Minerals (ASX:COD), up 400 per cent in 2021, and luxury online retailer Cettire (ASX:CTT), which after flatlining in late 2020 is up over 300 per cent now, even with fall from its all-time highs.

Coda and its partner Torrens Mining (ASX:TRN) (also a recent ASX listee) appear to have stumbled across an iron-oxide-copper-gold-ore deposit (IOCG) in South Australia. Cettire, meanwhile, has impressed with its trading updates.

In fourth spot among top performing ASX IPOs from last year is pot stock Emryia (ASX:EMD).

Emryia listed in February 2020 and lagged for much of last year but has surged this year. In 2021 it has teamed up with Cann Group (ASX:CAN) to develop an over the counter CBD product and obtained TGA approval for its smartphone-based monitoring application.

In equal fifth position (both with a 91 per cent gain in 2021) are industrial stock Maas Group (ASX:MGH) and fragrance retailer Dusk Group (ASX:DSK).

On a performance-since-listing basis, Caspin Resources (ASX:CPN) came in first followed by Cettire (ASX:CTT), Desert Metals (ASX:DM1), COSOL (ASX:COS) and Coda Minerals (ASX:COD).

The worst performers

Without seeing the full list of companies it would be easy to assume Nuix (ASX:NXL) performed worst, in light of the terrible year with an ASIC investigation into the prospectus forecasts. That’s claimed the CFO, co-founder and today, the CEO.

But it’s actually the second worst performer of last year’s ASX IPOs on a YTD basis, down 67 per cent, and is only the seventh worst on a performance-since-listing basis.

The bottom spot belongs to respiratory equipment maker Cleanspace (ASX:CSX) which has never recovered from a company update at the end of March in which it revealed its North American sales were hit worse than expected by COVID-19.

Other poor performers include food delivery stock Youfoodz (ASX:YFZ), specialist pipeline couplings company SRJ Technologies Group (ASX:SRJ) and loyalty program app Cashrewards (ASX:CRW), all of which have more than halved since listing.